Toyota has seriously upgraded the interior design and materials used in the 2012 Camry Hybrid.

Toyota's mainstream Camry lineup also looks reinvigorated

Toyota
Motor Company (TYO:7203) is moving
aggressively to stay on top of the hybrid market even as fellow veterans like
Ford Motor Company (F) and plucky new players like
Hyundai Motor Company (SEO:005380) look to
give chase.

I. The New Camry

i. Built in America with Non-Union Labor

Tuesday was a big day for the Japanese automaker as it unveiled its latest and
greatest Toyota Camry, a vehicle which has been on top of American sales for
mid-size vehicles for thirteen of the last fourteen years. Alongside the
traditional gas engine models, the Camry family has grown, with the addition of
a second hybrid model.

To date Toyota has sold 15 million Camry vehicles since the platform's 1983 launch, with 9.7 million of those sales coming in North America. Most of the Camry vehicles will be built at Toyota's Georgetown Kentucky plant, one of Toyota's 13 North American plants. Thus far the Georgetown plant has built 6.7 million Camry vehicles. The plant employs 7,000 non-union employees and has won more JD Power Quality awards than any other North American assembly plant, beating out all of the UAW plants.

The first production 2012 Camry rolled off the line at Georgetown today, driven
by Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota and great grandson of company founder
Sakichi Toyoda. Mr. Toyoda bragged, "This car has become a symbol of
Toyota's success all over the Earth, so you might say this is an opportunity to
show the world yet again, what Toyoda is all about.

Mr. Toyoda says he is all about "product, product, product" and
reports taking a very hands on approach with the new Camry, which would make
even infamous corporate perfectionists like Steven P. Jobs proud. He
comments, "I personally tested the new Camry until I was satisfied it
outperformed its competitors. And I can tell there's no comparison."

However, you feel about the looks of the new Camry, it's easy to respect the
price. While the entry level Camry L is getting bumped $750 to $21,950
USD MSRP, otherwise prices have dropped on the general lineup -- in some cases
by a lot. The LE model has dropped $200 (for the base inline-4) to $22,500
MSRP, the SE has dropped $1,000 to $23,000 MSRP and the XLE has dropped a
whopping $2,000 to $24,725 MSRP.

The new vehicles stick with the 2.5L inline-4 engine (dual VVT-i) that was
rolled out in the previous 2009 refresh as a replacement to the older 2.4 L
inline-4. The 178hp engine is now standard for all models, a perk which
was before only granted to the pricier LE model. City/highway gas mileage has been bumped from
22/32 mpg in the previous generation to 25/35 mpg, this time around -- a modest
increase.

Speaking of looks, while the Camry maintains the same 2006 platform (XV40), the
exterior has been subject to a drastic makeover, with 100 percent of the sheet
metal remodeled. The internals have also been worked on -- Toyota says 90
percent of the parts have been re-engineered. In total 80 percent of the
parts are sourced from American suppliers, with Toyota claiming the Camry to be
the "most American" mid-size car.

iii. Sales and Marketing

The new models (sans the hybrid launch October 3). Toyota says its
average Camry buyer is 60 years old, but that it wants to attract a more
youthful crowd this time around.

But Toyota is now back ahead of the Cruze, and insists it will be at full
production capacity, by the time the Oct. 3 launch rolls around.

Toyota is looking to cap its comeback by having the Camry serve as the pace car
at the Daytona 500 NASCAR event. It also plans to market the vehicle with
pricey Super Bowl ad placements.

II. Twins Are Born

i. The Hybrid Specs

The hybrid Camry launch will be delayed "approximately 30 days" from
the other models, but when it launches, Toyota will have twin hybrids in the
brand for the first time.

The new entry level LE hybrid drastically improves fuel economy, bumping it
from 31/35 mpg city/highway to 43/39 mpg -- an increase of approximately
30 percent in city gas mileage. The XLE hybrid offers a respectable 41/38
mpg. Horsepower has jumped to 200hp from 187hp combined horsepower in the
previous generation.

Much of improved gas mileage comes thanks to weight reductions. Toyota
has shaved over 200 lb off the weight of the vehicle. The 2011 hybrid
weighed 3,680 lb. The new SE hybrid weighs 3,417 lb, while the XLE weighs
3,441 lb.

Still Toyota manages to squeeze an industry-leading 10 airbags into the
vehicle.

ii. Sizing Up The Competition

Toyota looks to double its hybrid take rate from approximately 5 to 6 percent
of sales to be between 11 and 12 percent, according to Toyota officials we
spoke with.

And with its new low price and drastically improved mileage Toyota just may be
able to meet those goals.

The LE hybrid shaves $1,150 off the MSRP of the previous model, placing the
cost of ownership at a modest $25,900. An XLE costs $27,400 -- just
slightly more than the previous Camry Hybrid -- but contains many luxury perks
that the former model didn't, most significantly the Entune infotainment system
(more on this in a separate, upcoming piece).

The hybrid squares off against the Ford Fusion hybrid, which starts at $29,935,
and worse yet features a slightly inferior 41/36 mpg. Another significant
challenger is the 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, which is roughly comparable in
price at $26,545 but only gets 35/40
mpg highway/city. Likewise, the 2012
Optima Hybrid from Kia Motors Corp. (SEO:000270)
starts at $27,250 but only gets 36/40 mpg city and highway.

Thus the market logic goes something like this -- Toyota and Hyundai/Kia are
close in terms of the cheapest hybrid entry price, but Toyota is a ways ahead
of Hyundai, Kia, and Ford in mpg.

Toyota is still sticking it out
with nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, when competitors Hyundai
and Honda have switched to lithium-ion batteries. But for now, near the head of the pack in
price and the top in mpg in this hybrid segment, it's hard not to argue that
the new Camry Hybrid is an appealing proposition.

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The real difference is the type of vibration. Four-stroke V-twins (except Harleys, long story...) have pistons that move together (both up, both down). This gives them vertical vibration which is easily solved with a pair of contra-rotating balance shafts. They even cancel out the horizontal part of their vibration in a function of the angle between them (even firing parallel twin like old BSAs get no cancelled vibration and throb noticeably, 90 degree V-twin gets 50% cancelled, 180 degree boxer-twin has almost no vibration). V4s produce twisting vibration which is harder to deal with.

And as far as Harley V-twins and some clones go (with both pistons sharing a crank-pin), Harley had to go so far as to add an option to mount them on big soft rubber engine mounts just to try to isolate most of the vibration. Harleys vibrate. To many Harley owners it's endearing, but no one wants it in a Toyota.

If it's cheaper to build an I4 and you end up with a quieter, smoother engine why bother with a V4? The Ford Taunus V4 only existed because they found a way to cut down a V6 and share parts which is why it's at 60 degrees instead of 90 degrees and has splayed crankpins.

Now if you need to fit a powerful engine between someone's legs and the more narrow you can make it the more lean angle it can get in corners a V4 makes perfect sense. V4 sportbikes like the Honda Interceptor, Aprilia RSV4, and Ducati Desmosedici have very short strokes in order to reach high-rpm. Short stroke = less piston travel = less vibration, unfortunately it also means less torque. Something tells me if Toyota put an engine in a Camry that needed to rev out to 12,000rpm to make its advertised power some people would swoon, but most would complain.

Are there 2.5L V-twins? Yes, Viper Motorcycle makes one. Does it have a car-like bore/stroke ratio? Nope, short stroke.

I enjoyed your comments about engine layouts, but have one minor quibble.

From what I recall, going with a short stroke (and larger bore) means lowered peak ring velocity, giving the ability to rev higher. Also the larger bore allows for better breathing via 4 or more valves. The more air moved through the engine, the more fuel, and the more work performed.

Nowhere do I recall a loss of torque inherent in a short-stroke design. Yeah, in a long-stroke engine the crank throw is greater, but the piston area is correspondingly smaller, canceling any theoretical benefit.